You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. Mark 1:11
Imagine yourself in our Gospel passage today. You are standing on the bank of the Jordan River. John is baptizing people, and Jesus appears, asking John to baptize Him. He enters the river and is submerged into the water. When He comes back up, you see the sky being torn open (cf. Mark 1:10). What does that look like? Does it make a sound when it is torn? What’s behind the sky? The darkness of space? Brighter light? Something you can’t even imagine?
Then, you see a dove coming down upon Jesus. A voice calls out “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Do you think everyone heard that voice? Or only a select few? Or even only Jesus? Notice that in Mark’s account of the Baptism of the Lord that God the Father speaks directly to Jesus.
When we were each baptized, we also became beloved sons and daughters of God. We belong to Him because He loves us: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are” (1 John 3:1). Do you know how beloved you are to Him? Truly. He loves you with an unconditional, “everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). That means you don’t have to try to “earn” His love. You already have it. It also means no matter what your past has been like, He loves you still. You are His beloved.
The focus of God’s love is redemption. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son to save you (John 3:16). This is why we have the sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation: for our redemption. Through Baptism, God cleanses us from original sin and our actual sins and places His indelible spiritual mark upon us (CCC 1272). In Reconciliation, He cleanses us once again from our sins and gives us the grace to avoid sin in the future. Through the sacraments, we are conformed to Christ. We become like Him and share in His belovedness.
Abba, Father, help me see me and my worth through Your eyes. Help me see myself as Your beloved child.